The highest rank is that of "First-class" scout, and is to be attained only by a young person of considerable accomplishment. She must be able to find her way about city or country without any of the usual aids, using only the compass and her developed judgment of distance and direction. She must also be able to communicate and receive messages by signaling. She must have shown proficiency in home nursing, first aid, and housekeeping, and, in addition, in either child care, personal health, laundering, cooking, needlework, or gardening. She must also be an all-round outdoors person, familiar with camping and able to lead in this, or be a good skater or a naturalist or be able to swim. Not only must she know all these different things, but she must have trained a tenderfoot, started a savings account, and served her community in some tangible way. _Proficiency badges._--After a girl scout has attained to first class there are still other worlds to conquer, as the badges she has earned on the way are only a few of the many to be worked toward. There are no less than 47 subjects in which a scout may achieve, and more are being added. Just to mention a few: A girl scout may be an artist, a beekeeper, a business woman, a craftsman, or a dancer; an electrician, a farmer, a flower finder, a horsewoman, an interpreter, a motorist; or a musician, a scribe, a swimmer, or a star gazer. The highest award given is the Golden Eaglet, which means the earning of 21 Merit Badges, of which 15 are in required subjects. About 2,000 Merit Badges are earned a month. An analysis of the subjects shows that home nursing is the most popular, with 126 of each 1,000 earned. Laundress comes next with 97. First aid is next with 67. Needlewoman, child nurse, cook, pathfinder, health guardian, flower finder or zoologist, and home maker complete the first 10 most popular badges, with between 61 and 38 in each 1,000. The details are shown in the accompanying table. _Local councils._--Where troops are numerous it is usual to form a council composed of women and men representing all the best interests of the community: Parents, schools, religious denominations of all sorts, business, producers, women's clubs, and other social and philanthropic organizations. The council acts as the link between the girl scouts and the community. It has the same relation to the separate troops that the school board has to the schools--that is, it guides and decides upon policies and standards, interprets the scouts to the community and the community to the scouts. It does not do the executive or teaching work; that belongs to the directors, captains, lieutenants, and patrol leaders. One function of the council is to interest public-spirited women and men, particularly artists and scientists, in girl-scout work and to get them to act as referees in awarding proficiency badges.